Cal Quantrill tossed six scoreless innings and Ezequiel Duran and Elias Diaz each belted a solo homer, lifting the Texas Rangers to a 5-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday in Arlington, Texas.
Quantrill (6-4) allowed six hits and struck out six without walking a batter. He posted his second straight scoreless outing and has yielded just one run on 14 hits over his last four appearances (19 innings).
Duran went deep to lead off the second inning, marking the first homer in this three-game series by either team.
Texas’ Cody Freeman had an RBI triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Diaz. The latter wasn’t done, as he homered to lead off the fifth inning to propel the Rangers to victory in the decisive contest of the three-game series.
Corey Seager had a pair of singles to record his sixth multi-hit performance in seven games.
Los Angeles’ Zach Neto went deep to lead off the eighth inning for his team-leading 22nd homer of the season.
Josh Lowe had a sacrifice fly and Gustavo Campero added an RBI single to cut the Angels’ deficit to 5-3 in the eighth inning.
Chase Silseth, however, induced Jose Siri to fly out to end the inning, and Jacob Latz worked out of a jam in the ninth to secure his 26th save of the season.
Los Angeles’ Yusei Kikuchi (0-4) permitted five runs on seven hits in five innings in his return from the 60-day injured list. He had been sidelined since April with left shoulder inflammation.
Duran deposited a 1-2 slider from Kikuchi over the wall in left-center field to open the scoring. The homer was Duran’s 14th of the season and first since Aug. 3.
Former Angel Logan O’Hoppe singled two batters later and came around to score on Freeman’s triple to center field. Freeman didn’t stay on third base for long, as he came home on Diaz’s flyout to center field.
Texas seized a 4-0 lead in the fifth inning, as Diaz sent a 1-2 fastball from Kikuchi off the second deck in left-center field. The homer was Diaz’s sixth of the season and first since Aug. 1.
Brandon Nimmo added a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning to cap the scoring for the Rangers.
